


Day 167

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [167]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24760702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [167]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 167

Jalasan was not used to speaking in front of large groups of people. Nothing he has worked on in the circle has been seen as interesting to anyone before, maybe one or two of the other elven mages. Now he stood in front of almost the entire clan, all waiting expectantly for him to tell them a story. 

“This is the story of a woman who lived from 1:60 Divine to 2:20 Glory. Her name was Hallavhenan and she was wife to-“

“But who was she?” Someone asked. Jalasan wrinkled his brow in confusion.

“Hallavhenan,” he replied. “Wife of-“

“Don’t spoil the ending,” a woman cried out.

“You told us her name,” said someone else, Libya’s not who she was. You said she told her story in her own words.”

“She did,” Jalasan said. He had attended many research presentations before this and none of them had been this interactive. Jalasan thought about what had drawn him to Hallavhenan’s story in the first place and what had kept him coming back to her journals over and over again.

“Hallavhenan was the name she wished to be remembered as, for no creature captured her heart quite like the noble creatures… except for a young hunter who rode them with such skill the villagers whispered that he was favoured by Gillianan.”

This time no one interrupted. They all watched Jalasan, eyes wide and expectant. Jalasan felt a jolt of excitement swell in his breast.

“Hallavhenan watched Talim from afar for most of her youth. She would tend his halla after every hunt but was too shy to speak to the hunter. At night she would dream of the life they could have together, riding through the lush forests of the Dales. She watched, but never spoke to Talim, until her sixteenth year.”

Jalasan coughed, realizing that his throat was dry. He was not used to speaking so much. Before he could even ask, someone had placed a waterskin in his hand. He took a single sip, lest nature call before he had finished the story, and let the water coat the back of his throat.

“One winter’s day the hunters returned but Talim was not among them. They spoke of a great boar who had scattered the Halla and knocked hunters from their steeds. A great search was launched to find the missing hunter and Hallavhenan went with them, terrified for her secret love. They searched well into the night, many gave the young hunter up for lost, but Hallavhenan refused. She stayed out all night, even though the wind bit at her face and chilled her bones. In the dawn’s first light, she heard the hoarse respond of a man in pain. She followed and found Talim, belly slashed by the boar’s tusks and leg twisted by a rock.”

There was a collective gasp from the assembled crowd. Some of the children looked pale. Jalasan was starting to get carried away by the theatrics of the story and threw his full body into it. Pantomiming the events as he recounted them.

“Talim reached out for Hallavhenen, begging her for the mercy of a blade. But she could not bring herself to kill him, even for mercy’s sake. She had spent her life among the hhalla, healing their wounds and she did the same here. She uses some gut from her satchel to sew his wounds closed and found some wood to make a splint for his leg. She used her own cloak for the binding despite the chills in the air. Talim leaned on Hallavhenan as she let him back to the village. For months she stayed by his side, nursing him back to health. At night she would read to him from the histories of the People and the canticle of Shartan.

When he was well enough, Talim went back out on the hunt, Hallavhenan feared for him. She didn’t think her heart could bear to lose him after all the time they had spent together. But return he did, and he brought no meat from a kill but a wreath of elfroot and embrium which he presented to Hallavhenan with his proposal of marriage.”

A chorus of ‘awes’ rippled through the crowd.

“Hallavhenan and Talim lived many happy years together… until the exalted march of the Dales.”

“A story for tomorrow I think,” said Keeper Deyros. “We have a lot of work to do if we are to leave tomorrow.”

He raised a hand to quiet the chorus of protests and sent everyone away to do their work. The keeper smiled at Jalasan.

“I’m glad you decided to join us,” he said. “You have a talent for storytelling and, if I’m honest, we are in dire need of new stories.”

“Thank you Keeper,” Jalasan said. “What can I do to help with everyone’s work?”

“So quick to pitch in,” the Keeper said smiling. “The best thing you can do for us is make sure no humans see you before we leave. Join me in my tent and I’ll show you how to scrape hide for tanning.”


End file.
